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 1 . Which device was invented first?
a. the Zoetrope
b. the Kinetoscope
c. the Thaumatrope
d. the cinema machine
 2 . What is the best way to describe animation?
a. Still images appear to move.
b. It brings objects to life.
c. It is used to make movies more exciting.
d. It can only be accomplished with computers.
 3 . What does the word persistence mean as it is used in the second paragraph?
a. refusing to give up
b. remaining
c. continuing an effect
d. repeating a question
 4 . Which statement best describes the first animated cinema movies?
a. He drew images on layers of glass slides and had them move within a lantern, giving the appearance
of movement.
b. The cartoons were all hand drawn and carefully filmed to show natural movement.
c. Today, cartoons are made via computer technology, and the old-fashioned method of hand drawing
every image is uncommon.
d. By spinning the two images, Paris created the illusion of movement.
 5 . What makes the techniques of animation so fascinating to people?
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#3658 Daily Warm-Ups: Reading

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Daily 
Warm-Up
3
Nonfiction: History
Handheld Calculators
People today have access to “handheld” calculators in 
many different mediums: computers; smartphones; 
and small, individual calculators. Push a button here or 
a button there, and it computes complex calculations 
instantly. We think of this as “modern” technology.
One of the earliest handheld calculators first became 
available in the early 1960s. Personal computers came 
into widespread use twenty years later, and cellular 
phones with calculators sometime after that.
Thousands of years ago, long before the invention of 
batteries or electricity, early versions of a calculator 
were already in use.
The first calculator was called an “abacus,” also known 
as a “counting frame.” An abacus looks like a wood 
rectangle with a series of wires stretched across. Small 
rocks or beads are slid along the wires. There are other 
types using small ropes or grooves made in hard sand 
along which small beads slide.
People would use an abacus to solve addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, division, square root, 
and cube root problems with amazing speed. These 
counting devices are so quick and portable that they 
are still used today in some countries among 
trade merchants.
Abaci were standard issue in most American grade 
schools until the mid 1900s. With the advent of 
handheld calculators, they quickly became obsolete.
Text Questions
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 1 . Which phrase or statement best defines an abacus?
a. a handheld calculator
b. a wood rectangle with a series of wires stretched across; small rocks or beads are slid along the wires
c. used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root and cube root with amazing speed
d. quick and portable
 2 . Which is a synonym for the word advent as it is used in the fifth paragraph?
a. coming
b. arrival
c. approach
d. appearance
 3 . In which situation might an abacus not be used?
a. by your ancestors
b. by merchants in foreign countries
c. by students in the 1950s
d. by your parents at the store
 4 . What is the main idea of the text?
a. A battery-operated calculator is the only way to solve arithmetic problems.
b. Everyone should have a handheld calculator.
c. An abacus is an effective counting device.
d. An abacus is obsolete.
 5 . In what ways have handheld calculators made our lives easier?
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